Agatha Christie's ,"Ten Little Niggers" 1939

Lieutenant Cable:

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear,

You've got to be taught

From year to year,

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid

Of people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,

You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,

Before you are six or seven or eight,

To hate all the people your relatives hate,

You've got to be carefully taught!

[YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT Album South Pacific (Musical) (Rodgers & Hammerstein)]

I "had written the book Ten Little Niggers because it was so difficult to do that the idea had fascinated me. Ten people had to die without it becoming ridiculous or the murderer being obvious. I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I had made of it. It was clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation; in fact, it had to have an epilogue in order to explain it. It was well received and reviewed, but the person who was really pleased with it was myself, for I knew better than any critic how difficult it had been... I don't say it is the play or book of mine that I like best, or even that I think it is my best, but I do think in some ways that it is a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else I have written."

(Agatha Christie: An Autobiography)

Nursery rhyme: "Ten Little Niggers"

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self, and then there were nine.

Nine little nigger boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself, and then there were eight.

Eight little nigger boys traveling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there, and then there were seven.

Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in half, and then there were six.

Six little nigger boys playing with a hive;

A bumble-bee stung one, and then there were five.

Five little nigger boys going in for law;

One got in chancery, and then there were four.

Four little nigger boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one, and then there were three.

Three little nigger boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one, and then there were two.

Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up, and then there was one.

One little nigger boy living all alone;

He got married, and then there were none.